National Professional Qualification for Executive Leadership (NPQEL)

For school leaders who are, or are aspiring to be, an executive headteacher or have a school trust CEO role with responsibility for leading several schools. 

The DfE NPQEL Framework can be found here. 

Areas of Study

• School culture 
• Teaching 
• Curriculum and Assessment 
• Behaviour 
• Additional and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities 
• Professional Development 
• Organisational Management 
• Implementation 
• Working in Partnership 
• Governance and Accountability 

Assessment 

Formative assessment takes place throughout the programme, helping you understand the progress you are making, and facilitators to adapt your learning experiences. 

Summative assessment takes the form of a 2500-word response to a case study, completed in a single 8-day window at the end of your programme. The assessment will give you the opportunity to demonstrate how you would deploy the knowledge, skills and understanding gained through the NPQ to lead and implement a specific aspect of change. 

Further information about assessment can be found here.  

Duration

The taught elements of your NPQEL course will take place over an 18-month period. This will be followed by the completion of your summative assessment which must be submitted within an 8-day period following completion of your course. The whole of the assessment process including submission of your summative assessment, marking and moderation will take a total of 3 months.  

Participant Expectations

That participants are teachers who will be able to meet all of the following criteria: 

• Active engagement in every aspect of the programme – face-to-face and online elements  
• A commitment to accurate, evidence-informed self-evaluation and reflection                        
• The ability to proactively arrange and participate in coaching sessions                                  

• A commitment to submit a 2,500-word assessment within 8 calendar days of it being set at the end of the programme    
• A commitment to thoughtfully engage with evaluations about their entire programme learning experience that will support our continued quality improvement  

Quality

Our participants are crucial to our continuous quality improvement. The regular evaluations of our entire NPQ experience help us to give you the very best learning experience, as we are able to respond quickly to any issues, and share best practice rapidly. “incisive self-evaluation which drives continuous improvement.” (Tribal 2019) 

Funding Update

All NPQs delivered in 2022/23 are fully funded by the Department for Education for teachers and leaders working in: 

• State-funded schools, 
• State-funded 16 to 19 organisations 
• Independent special schools 
• Virtual Schools (LA run organisations that support the education of children in care) 
• Hospital schools (not already included in other categories of eligible organisations) 
• Young Offender institutions 

In addition to the scholarship funding, there will be Targeted Support Funding available for small schools to enable them to support their teachers and leaders to undertake NPQs. State-funded schools and 16 to 19 education settings in England, that have between 1 and 600 pupils on roll, will be paid £200.00 for each teacher or leader they employ who undertakes an NPQ. Eligibility will be based on the roll numbers that were submitted in the January 2023 pupil census and will be updated on GIAS in July 2023.   

Further information about funding can be found here

Course Fee

£3,900  

Scholarship funding is available for teachers and leaders working in: 

• State-funded schools, 
• State-funded 16 to 19 organisations 
• Independent special schools 
• Virtual Schools (LA run organisations that support the education of children in care) 
• Hospital schools (not already included in other categories of eligible organisations) 
• Young Offender institutions 

If you are an international applicant, please contact enquiries@llse.org.uk for information on prices 

Applications, via the LLSE website https://learn.llse.org.uk/apply/  

• Delivery Partner: Thames Gateway Teaching School Hub 
• Cluster: Concordia 

NPQEL Flyer